THE extremist group led by Iraq's most wanted man today claimed it carried out the shocking roadside massacre of almost 50 unarmed cadets.
The new Iraqi soldiers were found dead beside a remote road after being executed by attackers while returning home from their final training course.
Many of the recruits were found with a single bullet wound to their heads in one of the deadliest attacks against the country' fledgling security forces.
"The bodies of 37 new recruits, some with their hands tied, were found, shot dead, on the side of the road, while the corpses of 12 others were found in a minibus a few metres away that had been burnt out," said a spokesman for Iraq's interior ministry, Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman.
"The recruits, who came from all over the southern provinces of Iraq, were mainly Shiite and were returning home on board three buses when they were ambushed in Diyala province."
The attack, discovered last night (AEST) happened overnight Saturday (AEST) after the recruits completed a training course at a base outside the town of Mandali in eastern Iraq, Mandali's Iraqi national guard commander Ali al-Kaaki said.
He put the toll at 48, and his figure included five civilians who were drivers.
Anger mixed with grief on the faces of the national guardsmen at the base. "This is a massacre, this is terrorism," screamed one, who did not want to be identified.
Today's website statement said "Some children of The Al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Country of Two Rivers (Iraq) have succeeded in killing 48 corrupt heads, members of ... the Iraqi guard."
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement.
The Zarqawi group, formerly known as Al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), announced its name change on another Islamist website at the weekend, apparently to show its allegiance to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
It was also not possible to verify the origin of that statement.
In the claim for the killings, the website statement said: "The band was coming out of Karkush base, between the towns of Baladruz and Mandali, in the east of the country, and going on holiday in the south." |
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